Down by the Lake
by isthatacorner
Summary: Secrets are revealed, kisses are shared and James Potter finally asks the question that has been on his mind for the past several years: Do you want to shag? And it all takes places down by the lake. a oneshot.


disclaimer: So. I'd say that I own HP and that I was JK. but then you would start reading and label me as the liar that I would be if I claimed I were JK. So. lets not go there.

**Title:** Down By the Lake

**Summary:** Secrets are revealed, kisses are shared and James Potter finally asks the question that has been on his mind for the past several years: Do you want to shag? And it all takes places down by the lake. a oneshot.

Remus Lupin was alone. That was a rarity. He was one of the infamous Marauders and those four boys were practically connected at their hips. The only time that the boys were not conjoined like two sets of Siamese twins were when one of the very popular boys were on dates. James and Sirius were the most popular, by a large margin. But Remus was able to get more than his fair share of girls, if he was interested. He never was, though. He never dated. There were some who questioned his sexuality, but that was among the jealous boys or the wishful ones. And thinking like that was neither here nor there. The question on Lily Evans mind was…

"Remus Lupin, what is the matter with you?" She had either appeared out of nowhere or he had been to deep in his own thoughts to notice when she had arrived. It could really go either way; Lily had more than a habit of being somewhere she shouldn't be. It was more like a compulsion. Right now her sights were set on the pale boy in front of the common room windows, where he had been not only all of that day but many days previous. "I said, what's the matter with you? What's the matter with all of you, for that matter? You lot have each been moping around here for days. It's distracting." She was speaking of his three best friends. Or former best friends the way things were looking these days. Ever since that night, or rather the morning after that night. . .

"Nothing, Lily. Everything is fine."

"Then why are you sitting here, Potter is over there playing with that damn snitch," She rose her voice to a yell before dropping back to a normal speaking tone, "I should just go over there and take it from him. That or punch him in the nose and then take it from him. Maybe break his hands too. Just to prove my point." Remus smiled here. If James had any idea how much Lily talked about him and the tone that she used when she did, he would never doubt that he had a chance with her and the half-serious suicide attempts would stop. Remus lecturing him on the likelihood of Lily liking someone with such an obvious mental imbalance was not getting through to him.

Remus cleared his throat and brought her back from her Potter-Induced-Ramblings. PIRS for short. "But, why are you sitting here and he's over there and Sirius is over there, and not even surrounded by his usual flock of bimbo's. And poor Peter is just sitting there. He looks like his parents have divorced and he's the one who has to make the decision in a custody battle. What's going on with you guys?"

"Lily." He sighed and looked into her eyes, "Leave it alone."

"Why are you guys fighting? You guys never fight." He looked past her, and at his friends. The only ones he had ever had. "Some things change." At that time in that place he had never spoken truer words.

Lily Evans was a determined girl.And right now, her every fiber was recoiling with the emotion. The tension winging about the room was driving her insane. She could not study in such a tense environment which meant that she was steadily getting closer and closer to failing her next exam. They had been fighting for days now. She turned away from Remus and examined the common room. Potter was sitting by the fire, Black was over by the door leading to the sleeping quarters and Pettigrew was sitting by the entrance to the common room. With a sigh echoing Remus', she placed her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Girls have to fix everything. Good thing I like you, Lupin, or I'd not make the attempt and enjoy Potter's misery."

"You don't hate him nearly as much as you'd like to think, Lily."

"You want to be miserable and alone for the rest of your natural existence, Remus?"

"I want you to leave it alone."

"Sure you do." Her decision made, she marched over to where Peter Pettigrew was forlornly sitting. He was. . . . sweet, she supposed. She didn't really know much about him, or really care to learn more. She always thought he was a little odd, but Remus said he was okay. And, pardoning Potter, she really did trust his trust his judgment of people.

"Pettigrew." She said, taking a seat on the arm of his chair.

"Evans." She stood again when she noticed the way his eye lingered on the bit of thigh that was showing from the way she was seated. Potter stared at her various body parts as well, but he wasn't skeevy and maybe she shouldn't trust Remus judgment after all. "What do you want?"

"What's going on with you four?"

"Marauder's business." He said snottily.

"There won't be any Marauder business anymore if there aren't anymore Marauders. Your friendship is going down the tubes, buddy."

"Shut up." His tone was a mix of defiance and petulance.

"You listen to me, you twerp." Lily did not get the chance to tower over many people, but Peter Pettigrew was even shorter than she was, something she took full advantage of as she shoved her nose into his face. "You tell me what's going on here or I . . ." She was cut off by a wand poking her in the back. She turned, slowly and looked into the eyes of Sirius Black. There never had been any love lost between the two of them, but this was new. Apparently the fight between the Marauders had lifted any sanctuary she had previously been under. She and Black had fought furiously many times, but never once had he drawn a wand on her, or she on him. For the former, James wouldn't let him, she didn't truly believe he was in love with her but he was certainly protective of her. And Sirius's temper, and penchant for trouble-making was in the early stages of becoming a much told legend. And the latter, for why the two of them had never had a duel was simple. Lily would never advance on an unarmed man and with Potter holding Black back, that's what he was.

"Leave him alone, Evans."

"Are we really going to do this, Black?" She asked, one eyebrow rising challengingly. She reached for her own wand, her eyes never leaving his.

"Been waiting awhile now, and it's not like I have anything to stop me now." Lily's wand was sweaty in her grip. His eyes truly looked mad. He had never looked at her like that before, she had never seen him look at anyone like that.Before she could make a response to that, one way or another, someone called his name. Sirius turned and a fist plowed into his face. He stumbled back a few steps, crashing into Lily, sending her into Peter's lap.

James was staring into his best friends eyes, his breath leaving him in short bursts. He was furious, Lily could see that much. Sirius didn't try to defend himself, with his wand or with his fist. James didn't attempt to do anything after that first punch. The two stood there, glaring into each others eyes. Finally, James shoved past Sirius and stormed from the common room.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Lily shouted. Shoving herself off of Peter she looked into Sirius' eyes. They were no longer crazy, or angry, or upset. He looked sad and disappointed. And lost. All of the common room was looking at the trio by the entrance and the flapping doorway. The fat lady wasn't in her portrait at the moment otherwise she would be throwing a huge fit at the way she was being treated.

Sirius' gaze bore into the side of Remus' head.Remus had turned away when his friend had tried to make eye contact. His eyes sadly fell to Peter, who was just behind Lily, still in his chair before they made their way back to Lily. "What do you care? You hate us."

"I don't hate anyone!" She bristled at the accusation. Kind, generous, fair-hearted. That was her. And she'd probably hex you if you disagreed. "I'm trying to study, you know! That's it!"

"Accio Lily's school books." Sirius lazily flicked his wand towards the table she had been studying at before she was interrupted by all of the underlying tensions in the room. "Study then."

Lily stood at the edge of the lawn observing the boy by the lake. It was Potter. She didn't know when she noticed it, but somewhere along the line she had. Every time he was upset he would come to the lake and sit underneath the same tree. She herself had sent him there on more than one occasion. She had never tried to comfort him. She had never tried to talk to him actually. She found herself doing one of his infamous moves for when he was nervous, ruffling her hair. Disguising the fact that she was drying sweaty, nervous hands, on her skirt she took extra time smoothing it down and aligning the pleats and making sure that it was falling just so.

She moved towards him, the books Sirius had summoned for her in her hands.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked. When he didn't answer she cleared her throat and asked again, when stillhe did nothing, she lightly stepped on one of the hands that were propping him up as he leaned back and started at the lake.

"OW! Hey! What do you want, Lily?" He sat up, his eyes still on the lake.

"I asked if I could sit with you and you ignored me." She threw her books to the ground and glared at him.

"I guess you're not used to that."

"Not from you at any rate." She sat then, facing him and away from the lake. She didn't know what to say. Talking to Remus was easy. All she and Black had ever done was snap at each other, and if given a chance she knew that when she approached him to discover what was killing his friendship he would talk to her. If only for the fact that he liked to talk Peter could have been intimidated, maybe, if Black hadn't crashed the party. She had no idea how to talk to Potter. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." He said on a sigh, as he lay back in the grass. His gaze going to foliage above him.

"You and the other dunderheads aren't talking and you just punched your best friend in the jaw." She was staring at his knees. Actually, her gaze kept going from the spot between the top of his pants and the bottom of his shirt where a thin swatch of very pretty, manly lower tummy was showing. With a sparse line of happy trail. She was having a hard time concentrating. The knees that she was looking at to cool her down between staring intently at his tummy, especially now that he was playing with the short silky hairs there, to his pants leg was posing a problem. There was a hole in his pants leg. And if knees could be sexy, James Potter had sexy knees.

"So, something is the matter. I don't expect you to come out here and make all my problems go bye-bye."

"If you had been expecting it, you would have waited and opened the door for me, wouldn't you have?" She decided to take herself out of the line of fire and scooted up so that she was sitting next to his head and could just look down into his beautiful eyes. Except that now she knew that they were beautiful. Which could pose a problem in the concentration arena. She momentarily looked up at the greenery overhead. Attempting to bring her suddenly rampaging hormones under control was difficult, and required a few moments to herself. "Are you going to tell me?"

James rolled to his side and looked at Lily. She was sitting the way he had been when she had come upon him. Her legs were straight out in front of her with her arms behind her, elbows straight, with her weight resting on them. Her head was tilted towards the sky with her hair falling in between her arms and straight down her back to mingle with the grass. She was beautiful. He didn't mind her being there. He only wished she would tell him what she was doing there. "We're fighting." He said at last. He wasn't intending on betraying Remus' secret. And he certainly wasn't intending on telling her what Sirius had done, and the possible future consequences of having Severus Snape know their secret. She would kill Sirius if she knew what he had done. Remus was her friend.

"Is that the understatement of the year, or is Alice really likes Frank Longbottom it?" The two had been dating since first year. Marriage was imminent.

"That's a toss up. Me and the guys never fight. Not seriously." He said when she shot him a highly incredulous look. "We bust each others chops, sometimes Pete's a little too sensitive but not over anything big. Never over this." He rubbed his hands over his eyes. He was talking to Lily Evans. He wasn't nervous. He wasn't making an ass of himself, he hoped anyways, and they weren't fighting. He couldn't enjoy the progress of the moment because his mind was weighed down with thoughts of his friends. If they could get through this, their friendship would immediately be in danger because of the ruination of the enjoyment of the progress with Lily Evans. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for for years. The chance to talk to her without fighting.

"If you wanted to tell me, I wouldn't tell anyone if you didn't want me to.I'd take it to my grave." She shifted around until she was lying in the grass as well. Her eyes were the exact same shade as the greenery, he couldn't help but notice, as they focused on him. She was close enough to kiss. They were practically lying nose to nose, as if they were sharing a pillow.

"I know you would." He whispered it, since she was close enough to hear him, and brushed a strand from her cheek and behind her ear. He couldn't help himself. He would not have been able to concentrate with the strand lying there, so dark against her pale cheek. She held her breath until his hand dropped back to his waist. She hadn't thought of smacking his hand away.

"Are you going to tell me?" She was whispering too, and as the sun began its descent, making the shadows cast by the tree stretch over them the setting began to seem intimate. Shyly, she slid his glasses up his nose. Her fingers moving slowly and softly as they fell back to where they had lain previously. Her fingers traced the bridge of his nose, and his firm lips which had puckered immediately giving a gentle kiss to the pads before they had fallen completely.

"Are you trying to seduce the answer from me?"

"Is it working?" Her answer broke the spell he was under and reluctantly he rolled away from her.

"It's complicated. Why we're fighting. I can't tell you."

She heard the hardness in his tone. And if she hadn't known by that she would know by the stiff way that he was sitting that her playful answer had been the wrong thing to say. She sighed and sat up as well, moving closer to him than previously anticipated. Without him staring into her eyes the way he had been, sharing his warmth with her, it was chilly outside of the castle's walls. "I didn't mean that the way that it came out."

"Didn't you? Why else are you out here? Little Lily Evans. Hogwarts Busiest Busy Body."

"Well, that was mean." A frown was hovering around her mouth as she turned away from him and stared across the great lake. James hadn't been mean to her since the year before. Early the year before.

"Why are you out here, Lily? Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because you're letting me, I guess."

"What kind of answer is that? I'm always willing you to be nice to me, its been the only thing that I've wanted since year 2. For you to be nice to me. For us to have an actual conversation."

"That's the only thing you want?" She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Falling in love starts with a conversation. So yes, I've wanted you to talk to me."

"How was I supposed to know that, James?" She sighed his name, and continued looking out at the lake.

"How about one of the millions of times I've come up to you? One of the millions of times I've asked you to go out with me? Each of those times I've been asking you to be nice to me."

"And each of those times you've come up to me with the dunderheads right behind you, Sirius making crude gestures and Peter laughing his head off. Remus condoning it. I was supposed to take you seriously? You had to know that there was no way that I could. You know what, this is not what I came out here for." She stood and automatically passed her hands over the back of her skirt knocking off bits of grass and dirt and whatever else may be attempting to hitch a ride with her. She cast one unreadable look in his direction and headed for the castle.

"Remus is a werewolf." James said softly from behind her.

"What?" She turned to look at him. James stood and slowly walked towards her. He knew that he shouldn't have blurted Remus' secret out like that, but he wanted her to stay. "Are you just finding out? Are you abandoning him because of that?" There was outrage in her eyes. She didn't know much about the disease, truthfully she hadn't processed the information, but right now the only thought in her head was of the sad, lonely young man sitting on the window ledge in the common room.

"We've known for years now." James said quietly. "We even became animagus to help him out. Werewolves can only infect humans and we didn't want him out there alone." Lily sank into the grass staring up at him. "That's illegal Lily. You can't tell anyone. Not about Remus, not about us. Do you promise?"

"Yes, of course." She breathed out, her mind still on the boy upstairs even as she stared at the courageous young man in front of her. "If you've known for years why are you fighting?" James came and sat in front of her this time. He took her hands in his, closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking into hers and he told her everything.

He told her of their on going war with Severus Snape. How it beganon the train way back in their first year, how the night of the most recent full moon Snape had gone to far and Sirius told him how to get past the Whomping Willow where Remus transformed.

"You're a hero then?" There was admiration in her eyes as she stared at him.

"Not a hero, Lily."

"You rescued someone you hate."

"I wasn't trying to rescue him, Lily. I was trying to rescue Remus. He wouldn't want that on his conscience. He's a good man."

"Yeah. He is. He's been telling me that about you for a long time. I never believed him." James looked at his hands. His fingers were still interlaced with hers. He didn't want to let go. "I could kill that stupid Sirius Black!" She raged, abruptlysurging to her feet and looking up towards their common room, as if she were going to go and kill him right then. "How selfish is he? Doesn't he think?"

"Trust me, Lily I've been asking myself the same questions for days now. I've never been so mad at him. I know that it was impulsive. I know that he regrets it but I'm just so angry at him."

"Are you ever going to forgive him?"

"I don't know." He sighed and tugged on her hand until she finally sat down again. She shifted until she was sitting in front of him once more. Her eyes boring in to his. "Why are you fighting with Remus and Peter?"

"I'm not fighting with Peter. He just, kind of, goes with the flow. When all of us are fighting he likes to remove himself from us until the fighting is over with. He hates taking sides." He let go of her hands and laid down once more. His eyes staring up at the fully darkened night sky. The stars were shining brilliantly. He was outside observing the sky with Lily Evans. That statement didn't make him as happy as it should have.

"Remus?" She prompted when he had been silent for too long.

"It's not that I'm mad at Remus. I know that none of this is his fault. Its all Sirius' stupid fault. But…" He sighed. He had sighed a lot that evening, probably more than he ever had in his entire life. "Sirius is like my brother, you know?"

"I'm not that close with my sister so sibling relations as metaphors for closeness totally go over my head."

"Then there's something you and Sirius have in common that you didn't know before. I meant how sibling relationships are supposed to be. Really close. You can do anything, say anything and you know that you'll always be there for each other because you love each other." He was glad for the darkness. It hid the blush staining his cheeks. "I am such a female."

"Hey!" Lily whacked him in the belly. Before she gave in to impulse and kissed his cheek. James laughed at her reaction and laughed again when the point on his cheek where she had kissed him began to emit glowing waves of warmth down thru to his toes.

"I'll forgive him eventually. I know I will. But I feel guilty about Remus. What if Remus can't forgive Sirius? What if I have to chose between them?"

"Don't you think it looks like you already have?" She wiggled her fingers from where they were comfortably entangled with his. She didn't move her hand away. "I was talking to him today and he seemed so sad and defeated. He's been that way for days now."

James brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. "You're right. Do you ever get tired of that?"

"Hasn't happened yet."

"I should go up there and talk to him. But," he hesitated and kissed her fingers again. This time he allowed his lips to linger as he kissed the tips of all ten individually, including thumbs and pinky's. "I don't want to leave you."

"James?" She whispered, moving in the darkness until she was balanced on her knees. Her hand never left his. "Potter?" She said again, when he made no attempt to acknowledge her. She tugged on their joined hands until he too was standing on his knees. His eyes were still on their joined hands.

"I don't want to go up there yet Lily. I know that I haven't been the best of company and you've just been talking with me about my friends but, to me, tonight has been perfect." He gave her a wicked grin, as he stared at her from beneath his long eye lashes. He prayed to whomever listened to lovesick adolescents that she would let him stay.

"Go talk to you friends. Make up with your brother."

"Lil-y…" he began to whine. He was interrupted by her mouth on his. The kiss started slow, as she had just kind of pounced on him and then allowed her lips to linger over his. But after his shock wore off, the kiss became softer and he gently urged the kiss deeper until their tongues met and danced. For once not dancing with angry words and sharp wit. This dance was perfect. Lily pulled back first, and placed a timid peck on his still parted lips. "I'll still be here, Potter." She whispered.

"Will you come up there with me?"

"You want me to talk to your friends with you?" She was flattered, of course. But she had no idea how that would go over. She had no idea what they would tell his friends. She had kissed Potter. Her heart was pounding much to fast, she felt hot all over and all she could think was how much she would really like to do it again. But what did it mean? Did she like him? She'd kissed him, not the other way around. She had been holding his hands off and on for at least the past hour, and what did that mean? What did he think that that meant?

"Not really. I just want you to come in from the cold."

"I can do that." She smiled up at him and she wondered if he could see how apprehensive she was.

"And if you wanted to soften Remus up for me, I wouldn't get mad at you or anything."

"Nice try, Potter. But let's go in. It is cold out here."

And James spoke to his friends. They fought, they argued and finally they talked to each other. Sirius apologized to Remus and then he apologized to James for pointing his wand at Lily. A desperate attempt by a desperate man to force his best friend to talk to him. The next morning the Hogwarts population was treated to sight that they hadn't seen in days: the Marauders as friends once more. And later that day something even more monumental happened.

"Now what are you going to say, Prongs?" Sirius was standing in front of his friend, alternately adjusting his tie and attempting to tame the untamable. Otherwise known as his hair.

"Pretty much whatever my tongue will let me say. In this situation it tends to take on a mind of its own." He looked out of the window. Seated underneath the tree that they had kissed under last night Lily was curled on a blanket reading.

"We all know about your mouth diarrhea. But this time, as long as you don't invite her to shag right there she's going to say yes." Remus smiled and handed the young man the daisies he had woken his newly reunited friends up at dawn by wand point to go and pick for the girl.

"Don't give my tongue ideas, Moony. It doesn't need them." Finally as neat as he was ever going to look James approached the wide double doors leading to the school grounds. "Give me a push, would you? My legs don't seem to be working."

Sirius happily obliged his best friend. Lily wasn't so bad all in all. He could learn to live with her. She was sure to help or cause a million more opportunities for James to humiliate himself, providing Sirius with tons of entertainment and future blackmailing opportunities. "Lily Evans is about to become Mrs. Prongs." He murmured into his friend's ear all while pushing him much too hard out the door and pulling the Marauders Map from his robe pockets. "Lily Evans is much to boring, if she's going to be the girlfriend of a Marauder she's going to have to be called something on the map."

"You never re-name any of your girlfriends!" James protested, his legs quaking beneath him like a young deer standing for the first time.

"None of my girlfriends stick." Sirius shrugged, allowing the heavy doors to close cutting James off from their view. He opened the map and watched the dot labeled 'Prongs' move towards another dot that was quickly erased and re-labeled 'Mrs. Prongs'.

"H-hi, Lily." James cleared his throat. He was stuttering. Nothing good ever happened after he stuttered. She wasn't going to fall in love with him now. She was going to turn him away. Tell him that she had only made out with him last night because she felt sorry for him. It was pity kisses. Not passionate, affectionate ones.

"Are those for me?" She asked looking up at the mangled flowers. She was blushing and fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. He had been silent too long. And she didn't like the way he was just standing there. So she pushed him. Just hard enough to make him fall to the ground in front of her, and hopefully knock him out of his trance.

"Uh-yeah." He arranged his legs underneath him and looked at the flowers as if he had never seen them before. They were slowly changing color going from the palest pastels to vivid and bold colors. He cleared his throat again. "Yeah." He threw the flowers at her, seemed startled by the sudden movements and buried his head in his hands. He couldn't stand looking at her anymore. This was awful.

"Did you want something, maybe?" She prodded as she calmly collected the strewn flowers and began to arrange them in her lap. When he remained silent, his face still hidden from her sight she continued on. "Thanks for owling me last night. I'm glad you guys worked things out. The castle isn't the same without the Marauders striding down the halls, acting as if it were your names on the deeds to the property." He still didn't raise his head. She took a deep, deep breath. It only made sense when she thought about it. That the last invitation between the two of them would be from her to him seeing as she had refused so many times before. She shifted until she was on her knees in front of him. He was still sitting perfectly still more than likely berating himself for the bang-up job he was doing. "James? James are you listening?" She griped his silky hair in her hand and lifted his head. The other hand went to cup his chin and the line of his jaw. He still wouldn't look at her, but then again looking wasn't necessary for what she had in mind. She kissed him gently, urging his mouth to join in. When his arms wrapped around her waist and his tongue traced the outside of her lips she breathlessly whispered to him, lip to lip, "James Potter do you want to be my boyfriend?"

He spelled his answer out in kisses along the side of her neck and then whispered in her ear in case she didn't understand. "Do you want to shag?"

"James Potter!" Lily shoved him from her with all of the force that she had. She couldn't believe him! A part of her wanted to laugh but that was being overcome by the part of her that wanted to be able to tell her daughters and granddaughters of the most romantic moment in her life, excepting when he proposed and their wedding day. Asking her to shag had not been incorporated into any of the many fantasy's she had woven the night before when she had looked herself in the eye (via hand mirror) and admitted that somewhere down the road that she, Lily Evans, had fallen completely in love with James Potter. She moved to wallop him one good time for making her regret this even for one second, but he caught her attacking hands in his and kissed the mad from her. "What I mean was, yes. Yes I would love to be your boyfriend."

this answer is a total rip off of the classic movie The Breakfast Club. I don't know if you have to give credit whenever you put a group of words together, esp. if its not an exact quote but, give credit where credit is due. And if you've not seen that movie, maybe you should. Immediately.

AN: I'm going to have to dedicate this little ficlet to my beta, semicrazy. Who's name is oddly fitting...hmm. that's neither here nor there. It's dedicated to her for standing up and beta-ing under the weight of out of control allergies or hayfever or something. Really. So, cookie, feel better thanks for proofing this while spraying snot mucas all over the screen without a care for the poor sods who would have to use the computer after you.

AN 2: My beta is going away for a bit. (sad) so I am in need of a temporary beta. I have some stuff in the beginning stages of being finished...one or two chapters or segments left and as I said my beta is going away. Now, I'm much much to impatient to wait until the dear girl comes back so I will do my best to proof (ignore/not see) 3/4's of the mistakes rendering the entire effort unreadable. So. If anyone out there is kind and would like to be my temporary beta for the next little while I would be really really happy. Let me know.


End file.
